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Last December, Mayor Charlie Hales cut a deal with ride app Uber to temporarily leave Portland while city officials crafted new rules for so-called "ride-sharing" companies.Just a little over a month remains until April 9, the date Hales promised Uber it could return to Portland—and the City Council has yet to publicly debate the coming upheaval in the taxi market.That silence is about end.City Commissioner ...
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Gov. Kate Brown's sudden rise to power last week unleashed a flurry of demands and requests on the new governor's time—she extended former Gov. John Kitzhaber's moratorium on the death penalty before it expired in a few weeks, for example—as well as lots of free advice from other politicians.Example: Former Gov. Barbara Roberts, at a Feb. 14 celebration at the Oregon Historical Society, said ...
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Unable to find a workable version of the Portland street fee after a year of trying, Mayor Charlie Hales is asking Portland voters to recommend one.The mayor's office this afternoon announced it will place three to six transportation funding options on the May 2015 ballot for a public advisory vote."We will ask the voters to pick from the array of funding options," Hales says in a press release, "and ...
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Competition for Uber could include EcoCab and Rainbow Cab

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When Uber returns to Portland in April, it could face new competition. City Commissioner Steve Novick has told the city’s taxi board to tackle its backlog of 377 permit applications from 10 cab companies. (Portland now has just 460 licensed cabs.) The Private-for-Hire Transportation Board of Review has been accused of protecting the interests of existing taxi companies. But the board's manager, Frank ...
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She says City Council should send its plan to voters.

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Mayor Charlie Hales and City Commissioner Steve Novick's proposed street fee to raise money for Portland road repairs and safety projects may not have enough votes to get out of City Hall. City Commissioner Amanda Fritz announced this afternoon that she will not support Novick's latest proposal for a residential fee, which estimates gas use based on income. She says the new plan places too large a ...
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It no longer matters what City Hall comes up with for a street fee to fund transportation projects: An opposition group tells WW it will circulate petitions to force the proposal to the ballot. Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick’s ever-shifting plan would raise $46 million a year to pay for road repairs and maintenance. Hales and Novick say the city is way behind in keeping up the ...
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Murmurs
Oregon Secretary of State Kate Brown
is finally fulfilling her long-delayed promise to tackle campaign
finance reform. Oregon is one of only four states that places no limits
on political contri
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City Commissioner Steve Novick says he'll try to pass a compromise version of the proposed street fee to fund city transportation projects that would charge households by levels of estimated gasoline consumption. Novick warns that if City Council or voters reject that plan, he'll return with an income tax that places a heavy burden on the rich."We are proposing a revised residential user fee, with ...
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City Commissioner Steve Novick says Uber's agreement to back out of Portland for three months doesn't mean it can escape paying $67,750 in city fines for operating illegally the past two weeks."Steve is intent on fining them," says Novick policy advisor Bryan Hockaday. "And he made that clear to the mayor. The mayor's office has not responded yet."Mayor Charlie Hales brokered a deal with Uber on Thursday, ...
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City of Portland transportation officials have issued $67,750 in fines to the ride-sharing company Uber, but have yet to penalize a single driver. Uber has been operating its service in Portland for 10 days, defying city rules for taxis and town cars. The city, led by Mayor Charlie Hales and Commissioner Steve Novick, has sued Uber, seeking a judge's injunction to block the company from operating.City ...
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